


Understanding

by okoriwadsworth



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25089739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okoriwadsworth/pseuds/okoriwadsworth
Summary: Lady Shiva loses a bet, and ends up learning a lot about the Black Canary in the process.
Relationships: Laurel Lance & Lady Shiva
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Understanding

(This is a bonus chapter from Birth of Icons.)

(Dinah Laurel Lance’s POV)

Dinah Laurel Lance exulted in having beaten Lady Shiva in something, even if it was something as relatively childish as how many different forms of martial arts Laurel had learned. (Turns out Lady Shiva’s utter lack of respect for French savate won the day here.)

Normally, Laurel wouldn’t really use this bet for anything massive. Maybe just a martial arts class run by Shiva for some at-risk kids in the Glades, kids who needed to know what discipline and honor felt like. Whatever else one could say about Lady Shiva, the idea that she wasn’t deeply disciplined in her daily life was not one of them. But this was different. This gave her a chance to show her teacher, and friend, why she did the things she did.

And then, it dawned on her. If she was going to do this, and not end up kicked into unconsciousness, she’d have to make sure Shiva actually DID it. Maybe, she figured, if Lady Shiva could feel how good it was to save a life or be someone’s hero in a dark alley when something terrible was about to happen to them, Shiva would begin to understand why Laurel did what she did.

But if they were going to do it, Lady Shiva needed a uniform. This was about to be fun.

(Lady Shiva’s POV)

Lady Shiva could freely admit that she saw the appeal in being a hero. In just the 5 days that she had been the Jade Canary, she had broken up attempted rapes, stopped a mugging, and had the chance to fight more thugs who got their kicks off of raping women, stealing cars, and hurting people than she would have expected. It was fun to see people smile at her, say “Thank you” for the life she had helped them get back, and even hug her.

But there were things about this life she did not like. For one, she hated having to not use her lethal tactics. She understood why she was forced to do such a thing. Not everyone was as comfortable with seeing death up close as she was, and heroism of the sort Black Canary practiced meant that her main job as she saw it was to provide a similar example. Life was valuable, she begrudgingly would admit, and seeing someone take it when there was another way could dispirit the very people Laurel was trying to help.

The other thing was her costume. Lord knows, she understood why Laurel used it. She had even been sort of a quality-control agent for it, making sure all of the martial arts she had taught Laurel and the ones she learned already were still able to be fought in what she chose for her to wear. Besides, her student looked good enough in just about anything that her beauty could be a distraction for a certain type of criminal. And recently, her beloved Green Arrow had added a fishnet cutout to her pants and top which just so happened to be proprietary body armor to help with her distraction tactics. Laurel had taken her to just about every store in Starling City to put together what she thought of as the perfect “Jade Canary” outfit. And as she put it together, Shiva began to notice something. Laurel wasn’t self-conscious about people looking at her in the way that she was when Shiva first met her. In fact, when Laurel first arrived, it would have been entirely impossible to imagine someone so skilled as a martial artist could be so meek in the rest of her life. She kept her head down, and other than a burning fire she showed when she did katas or lifted weights, few people saw much of her.

But over time, with confidence slowly increasing, the Black Canary slowly became who she was. As much as she was a lawyer, Laurel Lance became the Black Canary too. By the time she was ready to return home, Laurel stood to her full height of 5-7 and was as truly impressive as anyone Lady Shiva ever trained. The most complicated techniques Lady Shiva had created, Laurel mastered them with the ease of throwing a punch. She became stronger and more visibly powerful, until her lifting numbers were on par with Olympic weightlifters in the 76-kg class. But her improvement was not done just to show she could do it. She explained, many times over, that she would use these skills to protect those who could not protect themselves. This, Shiva begrudgingly admitted she admired. Honor was not a cheap thing, and if Laurel decided to spend it on being a champion for those who needed one, Shiva decided there could be worse choices.

But why then, in the name of all things holy, did she have to wear this costume? Could she not be the person Laurel wanted her to be in the clothes she always wore?

Finally, the night before her week as a hero began, Shiva broke down and did something she never would have imagined doing. She asked a question she did not already know the answer to.

“Why the costume, Ms. Lance? Why must I wear a different thing than that which I normally wear?” she said, annoyance flowing through every syllable like liquid lava.

“I never wanted to do this. There were literally dozens of things I wanted to do, wanted to be, instead of this. But last year, my life almost ended in a terrorist attack. And while my life was saved, the person who saved me, a person I felt as fondly for as I could feel for anyone, died in the process. And there was nothing I could do for them, no help I could provide. So, when I realized that, I could not live with it. I decided to become what my city needed, to be the hero in the light who would stand up for the little guy.

But in order to do that, I needed a guard between Laurel Lance and the Black Canary. If just for myself, I needed to know that there was a time to be one, and a time to be the other. That is why I wear the costume. This is a hard job, but a noble one. And to do it right, you have to know when to stop” Laurel says.

Nodding her head, clearly understanding now, Lady Shiva submits herself to Laurel’s machinations. The Black Canary had won this bet. Soon, she would have a partner in the field.

**_Five Nights Later……._ **

\-----------------------------------------------------

(Laurel Lance’s POV)

This had been a success, she realized. The Jade Canary, who had arrived from the clear-blue nowhere, had soon proved herself to be a skilled combatant and someone with surprising warmth towards those who could not defend themselves. As it turned out, many of the people she saved were sent to Ted Grant’s Wildcat Gym to make sure something like this never happened to them again.

But tonight, of course, was a different matter. Tonight, the Black Canary was staking out a local bar to see if she couldn’t hear any rumors about a possible slavers ring which was going to be operating in the Glades and in Island Heights. With the aid of Green Arrow’s tech team, they had snuck in and placed parabolic microphones all throughout the place so that they could listen without having to be the most conspicuous patrons of the Salty Dog bar and grill.

The thing about the Salty Dog was that it was, by general consensus, **_THE_** crime bar in Starling City. The Bratva, Triad, Yakuza, and Sons of Samoa could all be found there enjoying watered-down beer and poorly-cooked bar food staples while they, in blatant defiance of everything their chapter heads told them to do, eagerly took notes on and made plans about their criminal conspiracies. It always amused Laurel to think of just how much of her work could not be done, or would be made all the harder, if these idiots she currently had surveillance on would just take a basic criminal law class. But then, she thought, what would be the fun in that?

Looking over at Lady Shiva, who was lying prone performing proper surveillance but still vibrating with energy as she clearly wants to fight, Laurel realized, for not the first time, just how weird her life has become. Fast enough that she could still blink and remember the old days, she was just a lawyer whose greatest source of excitement was being threatened for refusing to let a case go. Now, though, she could safely say that nothing about her old life resembled the one she had now. She wasn’t sure how she felt about realizing that, but she knew that while her old life was normal, it was nowhere near full. Nowhere close, if she was being honest. This, for all of its weirdness, felt like the life she was always intended to have.

And then, as they kept listening, they heard something that she knew, just **_KNEW_** , would make Lady Shiva infuriated.

“You boys seen that new Jade Canary chick? Wow, the legs on her are unbelievable. I know she’s been busting up a lot of people’s plans, but I can’t be the only one who thinks she looks incredible” said a Son of Samoa, followed by happy assents from just about every member of every other criminal gang in the place. “It’s just a shame we don’t know who it is under the mask. We could have a lot of fun with her if we ever found out.”

At this moment, without even having to look, the Black Canary could feel Lady Shiva’s rage. One never had to ask if she was angry. You just knew. The only question was whether that knowledge was about to be supplemented with a flurry of kicks almost faster than the human eye could track, or if it was just going to be a glare cold enough to freeze lava to absolute zero.

Glancing at her teacher, the Black Canary knew what she was seeing. She had seen it in her own eyes, and felt it too, that first night she walked onto a patrol and saw 6 thugs shaking down a college student walking home for her purse. At that moment, she saw absolute red and before she knew it, all 6 of those thugs were lying in a heap with broken bones and the student’s purse was in her hands. She was fearful of what she could do, and convinced she needed to do this more than ever. The next morning, though, she signed up for classes in meditation, mindfulness training, and yoga to keep the raging hurricane inside of her in some semblance of control.

As they kept listening, though, the discussion moved on from the theoretical discussion over the Jade Canary’s attractiveness into a wholly disgusting conversation about where they were taking their latest victims. Now, she realized, it was time to let that hurricane blow free just a bit.

**_Inside the Salty Dog………_ **

\-----------------------------------------------------------

No one walked into the Salty Dog who wasn’t expected to be there. This wasn’t a place one got a boilermaker to wind down after a hard day’s work.

So, when the bar door literally flew off the hinge courtesy of a front kick to it dead-center, everyone in the joint turned their heads toward the sound. And what they saw there sent chills through them. Because standing in the doorway, looking like Valkyries from the depths of your nightmares, were the Black Canary and the Jade Canary.

Now, while the Jade Canary’s reputation was still in the building-blocks stage, the Black Canary was a whole other kettle of fish. She, along with the Green Arrow, had become the boogeyman to the Starling City underworld. Refusal, or failure, to cross your t’s and dot your I’s would be accompanied by a long speech about the first couple of Starling City justice coming to visit you one night and taking you straight to the FBI.

But that wasn’t the odd bit. Rather, it was the same as it always was. The odd bit was the Jade Canary.

First of all, it was the costume. The Black Canary carried herself with a certain class, to the point where the fishnets and tight uniform designed to show off her Crossfit-esque physique didn’t seem trashy but instead like she was using the way she looked as a weapon. It was like she was a queen, who knew how good she looked and used her beauty to disarm rather than to titillate. The Jade Canary, on the other hand, seemed deeply uncomfortable with what she had on. She would walk around in a cheongsam dress cut high up on both legs, but she always looked wrong somehow. Her beauty was not a weapon, for her, but instead seemed like something approaching a hair shirt.

The 2nd thing was that the Jade Canary wasn’t particularly heroic. Sure, she rescued people. But she never seemed to stay around all that long, or be particularly kind or welcoming to those whom she had met previously. The Black Canary, on the other hand, had serious rapport with children. Footage of her thoroughly defeating some kids from P.S. 51 in double-dutch jump rope while still in her costume had made their rounds through Starling City, and it was entirely common to see her walk people home if they happened to be near where she was on patrol.

All of this led some people to think that the Jade Canary was, in fact, not a hero of the sort her friendship with the Black Canary had led people to believe. And up until now, all that had been was speculation. But as the Black Canary pulled a chair into the middle of the room, before standing to the side with a happy smirk on her face, everyone in the Salty Dog found out exactly how true that theory was. The Jade Canary was unmasking, slowly and with a great deal of respect for the Chinese opera mask that she was wearing, and people were so silent, so weirdly respectful of this, that you could have heard a pin drop when she was done.

Because, standing there in front of them, was Lady Shiva. Everyone who was in their line of work knew her. She was **NOT** , in any way at all, someone you trifled with, disrespected, or took liberties with. And now, here she stood. Standing on a wooden bar chair that would have broken for just about anyone else, but refused to for her, Lady Shiva made a statement that everyone here would always remember.

“My name is Lady Shiva. I have been the Jade Canary for five nights. And just tonight, I heard all of you waxing poetic about how beautiful I am, and how much ‘fun’ you would like to have with me. Your appreciation for my body disgusts me. And more than that, all of you disgust me. Low-rent thugs, running child slavery and sex trafficking rings to make ends meet, instead of testing yourself in the field of honorable combat. None of you, not one, are worthy to live in this city any longer. So now, I offer you a choice. You can leave this bar, unharmed by myself and the Black Canary, but you must leave Starling City as well, and never return. If you think of coming back, I will know and I will punish you for the attempt.

On the other hand, you can stay and attempt to defeat myself and the Black Canary. We will not kill you. On my sworn honor and hers, you will not die tonight if you stay. But your injuries will be severe, and permanent. _Make your choice_.”

Rolling her eyes as she nonetheless gets into a fighting stance, the Black Canary watches as the hired guns who haven’t sworn themselves to any particular group run out the back door, all of them apologizing to Lady Shiva for the disrespect as they do so. Of the ones who stay, Laurel supposes some of them are frozen in shock, and others genuinely think that they can fight their way through two of the best unarmed martial artists in the world. This was about to be a very long night.

Soon, the first one charged and was hit with a spinning hook kick to the face so brutal and heavy that he spit out every tooth from the bottom of his mouth before collapsing against a stool. And then, the charge began.

Back-to-back, the Black Canary and Lady Shiva fought. Roundhouse and spinning sidekicks were landed and re-chambered perfectly, and elbows and knees flew like lightning. In moments, literal moments, no one was left standing. Bones were broken, and those who weren’t holding their arms or legs in pain were slumped unconscious on the floor. The entire bar looked like a slaughterhouse tornado had gone through it, with three exceptions.

Lady Shiva and the Black Canary, obviously, and weirdly the bartender. Ever since the first blow had been thrown the bartender just crouched under the table and refused to move as all around him, people fell.

But now though, with everyone else around him down and unconscious, the bartender apparently had decided he wanted to be tough. So he grabbed a baseball bat and tried to leave the bar. However, what he didn’t realize was that Lady Shiva saw him coming and hit a blind 540-degree kick that sent him flying backwards into his bar window and out cold onto the ground in one smooth motion.

And with that, the Black Canary and Lady Shiva were done. In the morning, Lady Shiva would head back home. But she knew now, better than she thought she did, why Laurel did this. She’d never want the hero’s life, never need the strictures and structure it demanded.

But, she supposed, it was good for Laurel. She’d come back and visit again. Besides, she needed to find out if this Green Arrow was as good as she’d heard.


End file.
